Rubber heel



Oct. 8,1940. L. M. OAKLEY 2,217,181

RUBBER HEEL Fild July 22, 1937 IN ENTOR ATTORN EY Patented Oct. 8, 1940 RUBBER HEEL Laurence M. Oakley, Trenton, N. J., assignor to Essex Rubber Company, Trenton, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application July 22, 1937, Serial No. 155,011

1 Claim.

This invention relates to rubber heels.

It has been the customary practice in the manufacture of rubber heels to embed metal washers in the rubber in order to provide rrn seats for the heads of the nails which secure the heel to the shoe. In order to support said Washers in the mold during the manufacturing operation the lower face of the mold is provided with a plurality of pins which hold the Washers in place. Such pins necessarily form apertures in the face of the heel extending toward the embedded washers. These apertures have been useful in indicating the positions where nails should be driven and also in guiding the nails as they are driven, but have always been unsightly in appearance.

Because of this undesirable feature, so-called blind-nailing heels have been developed in which, instead of using washers to hold the nails, la. slab or sheet of material such as Wood, fabric, fiber or wire mesh has been embedded in the heel. Since no pins are required to hold these slabs or sheets, no apertures are formed in the heels, and in fact, such `apertures are not necessary to guide the nails, since the nails can be driven into the slab or sheet more or less at random. After the nail is driven, the rubber closes in and there is no evidence of a nail hole on the exposed surface of the heel.

Such heels have many advantages, but have been found objectionable by some because they are more expensive than the Washer type heels and, more important, because the insertion of a slab of Wood, for example, reduces seriously the resilience of the heel.

It is an object of this invention to provide a heel and an apparatus for its manufacture in which Washers are used as in the old type heel, but in which the washer holding pins in the mold are of such nature that the apertures formed in the heel are smaller, less noticeable and less objectionable than before.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter.

A preferred embodiment of the invention selected for purposes of illustration is shown in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of the face of a nished heel.

Figure 2 is a section on the line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is an enlarged detail view of a Washer pm.

Figure 4 is a cross-section on the line 4-4 of Figure 3.

According to the present invention, I employ a washer pin which is provided with the usual cylindrical portion which terminates in a shoulder to hold the washer, but which is reduced in cross-sectional area near the mold plate in which 5 it is secured so as to form a very small opening in the face of the heel. Thus, referring to Figures 3 and 4, which illustrate a preferred form of pin, the cylindrical portion or head l terminates in a shoulder 2 on which the washer 10 3 seats, said washer being centered on the pin by the reduced portion 4. It will be understood, of course, that the hole in the washer must be of sufficient size to permit easy passage of the usual nails, and that the head l of the pin must be large enough to not only support the washers on the shoulders 2 but also to keep the rubber away from the Washer so as to permit the nail head to engage the washer directly. The crosssectional area of the pinnear the mold plate 5 is reduced by cutting out the metal-to form, in the pin illustrated, a plurality of radial vanes 6 so that in cross-section, as illustrated in Figure 4, the pin is in the form of a cross. The said vanes extend as far as the face of the lower mold plate 5 and the lower end of the pin is driven into the plate until the shoulders 6 are exactly iiush with the surface of the mold plate. This pin results in producing in the molded heel, a cross-shaped aperture 1 much smaller and less 30 obvious than the ordinary aperture, and yet entirely adequate to indicate the place where the nail is to be driven, and to guide the nail as it is driven.

While such apertures are much less objectionable than those of conventional heels even if used in heels with a plain surface, it is possible to make them even less conspicuous by merging them with a suitable surface design.

It is also possible to provide a slight concavity o 8 in the attaching face of the heel opposite each washer, which has the effect of causing the Walls of the cross-shaped aperture to draw together as the nail is driven firmly home, thus helping to conceal the aperture.

In the process of manufacture, the usual procedure is followed in that the washers are placed on the pins and an uncured rubber biscuit is put in place in the mold. The top plate of the mold is then put on and the heel is vulcanized in the usual manner. After vulcanization the heel is removed from the mold in the usual manner, and there is no difliculty in removing the head I through the cross-shaped apertures because of the elasticity of the rubber. This is an enlarged portion adjacent said Washer and an elongated portion of reduced cross-sectional area extending therefrom to the tread face of the heel, said portion of reduced cross-sectional area being cross-shaped, the Walls of said crossshaped portion being vertically disposed with adjacent opposed pairs of Walls being parallel to each other.

" t o ,LAURENCE M. OAKLEY. 

